Dateline: June 26, 2000

I have been a fan of Ricky Van Shelton's since I was a thirteen-year-old girl and first heard that smooth voice belt out "Crime of Passion." He is one of country music's most talented and most under appreciated stars.

Through the years of struggling to get his career started and his personal battle with the bottle Ricky Van Shelton could have easily become one of country music's tragedies. Instead with the support of his wife and family he has become a personal and a country music success. Today, the only tragedies in Ricky Vans life are in the Honky Tonk songs he sings like "Lifes Little Ups And Downs" about the working man who cant give his wife the material things he thinks she deserves, and "Somebody Lied," the soon to be classic country song about a man who is still in love with a woman that he is parted from, and without success is trying to hide his strong feelings for her.

Something that many people don't know about Ricky Van is that in addition to being such a talented singer and musician, he is a very talented painter and artist. Some of his prints are available through his Internet website www.rickyvanshelton.com.

In recent years he and his wife have also written several books for children about a duck named Quacker. These are also available through his website.

Ricky has a new album Fried Green Tomatoes about to come out, and the first video "Call Me Crazy" has just premiered on CMT.